Luke Donald's peers voted him PGA TOUR Player of the Year, capping a historic 2011

If you were wavering . . . if you had the slightest doubt . . . if you were ready for one last debate . . . forget it. Put it to rest.

This was the year of The Donald.

Luke Donald. The quiet, soft-spoken, thoughtful Englishman who was just a random thought in our minds 12 months ago. And even then, the reason was because he was one of the front-runners in that best-player-who-hasn't-won-a-major race.

Heading into 2012, he's still the leader of that major-less pack, but he's also so much more.

He's the PGA TOUR's Player of the Year, as voted by his fellow members on TOUR and announced on Tuesday.

He made history by winning money titles on two continents.

Oh, and he's ranked No. 1 in the world. In case you forgot.

In a year where nothing seemed to go according to plan, Donald taught us to think outside the box. To realize that, yes, majors will always be the focus, but you can have a once-upon-a-time season -- one that may never be repeated -- without one.

"I've done a lot of things this year," Donald said Tuesday, "that probably not a lot of people would have given me much chance of doing."

So what if he doesn't exactly fit the Superman mold. He fits another kind, according to PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem, who told Donald, "You are a role model for what we'd like to see young players be."

The commissioner was talking about Donald's impeccable demeanor. But he could have also been taking about his game skills.

Donald splits fairways and plays catch-up on the way to the green with -- what is, but shouldn't be -- an incredibly underrated short game. He's a throwback -- a whopping 5-foot-9, 160 pounds of hard work who taught us that top-10 consistency may be one of the most underrated elements in a game that's focused on stretching courses; a Northwestern-trained artist who overcame losing his father, celebrated the birth of his second child and created a season that took a you-take-it, no-you-take it crowded race to No. 1 and turned it into a masterpiece of the year, leading the TOUR in money and scoring average.

In the end, it was the year of the littler guy, not the bombers. Not the athletes who can dunk. Rather the guys who dance with what they've been given; guys who tailor a plan to their strengths and use their brain, their focus, to execute it.

Oh, and guys who can putt.

Consider this: Donald ranked 147th in driving distance on the TOUR this year, while the other four players up for Player of the Year honors ranked no worse than 51st in that category. But in Strokes Gained-Putting, the TOUR's primary putting statistic, Donald led the TOUR this year. Only one of his four runners-up was even within sniffing distance of being top 10 in that category (Nick Watney, who ranked 12th).

Luke's 2011 changed our perceptions of what it takes to be the best. And one that isn't likely to be repeated.

OK, he's not the first player to take up full-time status on both the PGA TOUR and European Tour. But he is just the first to win lead both money lists at the same time. Yes, Tiger Woods did lead both lists several times, but he was a member solely of the PGA TOUR, and didn't criss-cross the world to play the minimum number of events on both tours.

Oh, and what about Donald's heroic play at the end of the year? He added the final event on the TOUR schedule, the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic, to his schedule, knowing he HAD to win it to win the TOUR money title -- then he went out and did just that. Then he played in the Dubai World Championship, needing a top nine finish to hold off Rory McIlroy, all the while mourning the death of his father.